Arrival in D.C.

Arrived safe and sound after an uneventful flight. I was a little surprised that United wasn't charging for headphones or for watching the in-flight movie. But then again, how much DO you charge for "The Pink Panther II"? Happily I had my Netbook computer, and (courtesy of blu ray) a digital copy of "The Day the Earth Stood Still" to watch. Not as bad as the critics' collective thrashing would suggest, and undoubtedly better than the alternative.

Had a minor issue with the cab driver -- he'd never heard of my hotel. I guess that's what happens when you stay at someplace as obscure as this place (the Holiday Inn Express). Of course I don't have an address, and so I tell him it's near the White House, and near RFK Stadium. He tells me those are in two completely different parts of town. So he hands me his GPS, and tells me to type in "Holiday Inn". So I do... and it's not there. I scroll through about 50 Holiday Inns, ranked in order of distance from the airport. By the time I got to the ones in North Carolina I figured it just wasn't there.

I tell him that although I don't know exactly where it is, and don't have an address, and can't tell him how to get there, if he has a map I can show him where it is on the map. But he doesn't have one. So I draw him a map, as best as I can remember... no help. (Accurate, but without street names, whaddayagonnado?) Then he phones his dispatcher, and he has the address. Turns out the hotel is very new, so it's not yet in the GPS directories.

This is a very pretty city. Way more greenery than I would have guessed. Also interesting, driving down one street in a rough looking area, we passed some sort of soup kitchen or homeless shelter, then we make a left at the next corner and we're instantly surrounded by opulence -- three or four of the top hotels all there in one block, the Capitol Building sitting there at the end of the street, and we're 100 yards from a homeless shelter.

The hotel is kinda "out there", but there's a shuttle that goes from the hotel to union station every hour. Shit, I forgot my watch... oh well. See, that's the problem with my job, I don't need one. If I'm late, they send the sheriffs to drag me into the courtroom....

That's all for now.